History

US Nursing: Hawaii

US nurses will find that the history of Hawaii goes back to1,500 years ago, Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands first set foot on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Five centuries later nurses will read that settlers from the Polynesian island Tahiti arrived, Hawaiian culture flourished over the centuries, giving rise to the art of the hula and the sport of surfing.

US nurses will read Captain James Cook landed on Kauai at Waimea Bay. Naming the archipelago the “Sandwich Islands” in honour of the Earl of Sandwich,
effectively Cook opened the doors to the west.

US nurses will note that in 1791, North Kohala-born Kamehameha united the warring factions of Hawaii’s Big Island and went on to unify all of the Hawaiian Islands into one royal kingdom in 1810. Western influence continued to grow and in 1893, nurses will see that American colonists dominated much of Hawaii’s economy overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom in a peaceful and in 1898, Hawaii became a territory of the United States.